Issue Date: October 23, 2005
USA WEEKEND: 20 Years Young
WHO WAS NEWS IN OCTOBER 1985: Kansas City Royals win World Series over St. Louis Cardinals ...
Jagged Edge is No. 1 at the box office ...
Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love for You" hits the top of the U.S. singles charts
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Tony Danza is a proud new granddad, smitten with Nicholas David, the first child of his son, Marc. "I can't wait to hear him say, 'Hey, Grandpa,' " Danza, 54, says. "It's amazing to see your son become a father." He recounts for me a sweet moment at the hospital. "I saw [Marc] through the nursery window, and he put his forehead to the baby's forehead. I used to do that with him." Danza, in the second season of his daytime talk show, tapes in New York but commutes home to L.A. "I'd be going home a lot anyway, but now there's another reason to go."
I love British actor Joseph Fiennes, Ralph's brother. Is Joseph married? What is going on with him?
Barbara Deal, East Moline, Ill.
Joseph is cute as ever, but he's not married. He lived for a while in the Notting Hill section of London with a girlfriend he met while making the recent war drama, "The Great Raid," in Australia. But that's over now. Unfortunately, the 35-year-old actor hasn't yet had a proper follow-up to "Shakespeare in Love" seven years ago. The good news: He has two movies ready to go, including "Running with Scissors," with Gwyneth Paltrow, his "Shakespeare" co-star.
Please tell us the latest on British actor Colin Firth.
R.G. Eller, Amarillo, Texas
You soon will see him as he is above -- the handsome, coffee-covered face of fair trade in an Oxfam ad campaign launching this fall in the United States. "Oxfam's presence in America has been too low for too long," says Firth, who first got involved with the advocacy and relief organization to help with refugee issues. Fair trade is an issue he says "has grown enormously in Britain." He figures using his celebrity to focus American attention on it can only help "those struggling to be heard." Firth also stars with Kevin Bacon this month in the seductive drama "Where the Truth Lies."
What ever happened to Bridget Fonda, Peter Fonda's daughter?
Karla Kutsch, Las Vegas
We're told the actress, 41, has been busy focusing on family since marrying composer Danny Elfman in November 2003. The couple has a son, 8-month-old Oliver Henry Milton Elfman.
Tell me more about Natalie Morales, who fills in for Ann Curry on NBC's "Today."
Karen Donnelly, Newark, Del.
Although not an official member of the Today team, Morales, 33, tells us she'd love to be "the fifth Beatle." The MSNBC anchor-correspondent likes that she can "let loose and show some personality." Part of an Air Force family, Morales grew up in different parts of the world; she was inspired by journalist Christiane Amanpour and her "passion for making sure we didn't ignore the international news." As a working mom to Josh, nearly 2, Morales relies on "good babysitters and an understanding husband, especially when a big story hits."
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Taryn Manning, darling of this summer's acclaimed "Hustle & Flow" who's now in the indie "Dandelion," won't ever be embarrassed about appearing in Britney Spears' first real movie, "Crossroads:" "I know it's not the most respected film, but I won the role."Regardless of that "big break," it was just a matter of time before Manning, 26, also of the brother-sister music duo Boomkat, would be landing big movie parts. "My father was a musician; my mother is a dancer. I come from a long line of entertainers."
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"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and Bob Dylan's "Catfish" are among the songs on four CDs in "The Great American Baseball Box," out in time for the World Series. The set, with a companion book andvintage interviews, comes just before "the darkest day of the year: when that last game is played," says Steve Hochman, who writes on American culture and the game. "No other sport has this sweep of history." So where is baseball going? Global, Hochman predicts. Someday there may be a true World Series.
I'm reading best-seller "The Devil in the White City" about the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. I can see Johnny Depp as the evil Dr. H.H. Holmes, a real-life serial killer. Are there any plans for a movie?
Jim McCammack, West Lafayette,Ind.
Both Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio were interested in making movies about the infamous Holmes and the World's Fair murders. Cruise (with producing partner Paula Wagner) had rights to the book, and both stars' production companies had scripts in development. But neither star has The Devil in the White City (or something like it) on the front burner now, and Depp, still wrapped up in the two sequels to "Pirates of the Caribbean," isn't an option.
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BIRTHDAYS
October 23: Nancy Grace, 47
October 24: Kevin Kline, 58
October 25: James Carville, 61
October 26: Natalie Merchant, 42; Hillary Rodham Clinton, 58
October 27: Kelly Osbourne, 21
October 28: Joaquin Phoenix, 31; Julia Roberts, 38; Jami Gertz, 40; Bill Gates, 50
October 29: Winona Ryder, 34
Contributing: Gayle Jo Carter, Kevin Maynard, Brian Truitt
Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
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